BLIND BARTIMAEUS, THREE TIMES
When I was a senior in high school I began dating a girl who was a Christian. She took me to Young Life meetings every week where I was exposed to a very fundamentalist brand of Christianity, although the local leader was very “soft sell.” I, quite literally, had never heard any Bible stories. The leader read and told the story of blind Bartimaeus whom Jesus healed. I was very moved, and several months later, having come to see myself as prefigured in Bartimaeus, I became a Christian. That, to be sure, was the most crucial turning point of my entire life.
One of the more interesting aspects of the story of Bartimaeus is that it is told three times in the Gospels, which given the duplication of many of the stories in the Gospels is not unusual. The story is told in Mark 8:46-52, Matthew 20:29-34, and Luke 18:35-43. What is a bit unusual and quite interesting is the fact that the stories differ on several key points of fact. This is a clearcut instance of the way the Gospel writers altered or adumbrated the texts upon which they relied when writing their own version. This story is not included in the Q version of the Gospel.
First off, two versions say that Jesus’ meeting with Bartimaeus took place as he and his disciples were “nearing” the town of Jericho while the other says it took place as Jesus was leaving Jericho. Incidentally, this is the same Jericho that Joshua and his troops leveled when they captured Jericho and brought its walls “tumbling down.” Secondly, one of the versions, Matthew’s, says there were two men that were healed in this episode. (20:29) Perhaps one of the later copyists along the line transferred the number two from the following story into this one.
This possibility calls attention to a peculiar fact in the Matthew text, which says that for Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem “They brought two donkeys to him, laid their cloaks on them, and Jesus mounted.” (21:6) At the very least, it is difficult to imagine how Jesus mounted both animals. Clearly Jesus must have rode the mother of the foal while the latter followed along behind. The whole wild scene of the Triumphal Entry suggests the possibility for confusion and mistakes. For me it is difficult to imagine Jesus taking all this hoopla seriously. He left and spent the night in nearbye Bethany, presumably with Mary and Martha.
Incidentally, I do not apologize for the spelling of “nearbye” in the above sentence. It stands as a protest against the standard confusion of conflating the reference to “means” (by) with “location” (bye). It is a confusion against which I wish to bear witness. It happens all the time and should be guarded against ;O) I have always identified with this fellow Bartimaeus, partly because his was the first story about Jesus that I had ever heard, and partly because of his insistence on being helped by Jesus.
In spite of the fact that I have long since departed from the fundamentalism of my high school conversion, I do acknowledge that my first encounter with the story of Jesus it has continued to have a significant influence on my life and thought. There is something about this person Jesus that continues to draw my attention and commitment. I guess I am most touched and impressed by his recorded insistence on being a “person for others”, one who listens to and seeks to help those in need.
Whatever else he may have been, Jesus clearly taught, and to a very large extent lived, a life dedicated to the good of other people, especially that of the disadvantaged and persecuted. Once again I recommend to my readers what is called “The Sermon on the Mount” found in Matthew five through seven. This passage makes up the majority of the so-called the lost “Q Manuscript” of Jesus’ main teachings. It can be found in Marcus Borg’s little book The Lost Gospel of Q.

Alexander, the son of King Phillip was born in 356 BCE in northern Greece, or what is often called Macedonia. One of his most well-known biographers, Robin Fox, suggests that three most important personages in young Alexander’s life aside from his father were his mother Olympias, his horse Bucephalus (in Greek: Beautiful head), and the philosopher Aristotle his adult tutor.
His mother is reported to have often been violent and unduly emotional, and seems to have had little interest in Alexander. Alexander, for his part showed little affection for his mother, but loved and trained his horse himself. He was to be his constant companion for twenty years, all through his travels and wars of conquest. Although Aristotle spent several years educating Alexander, he seems to have had little specific influence on him. However, Alexander did send interesting specimens and artifacts back to his teacher during his travels abroad.
It is well-known that after conquering Athens by surprise with soldiers which alternated running and walking, Alexander turned his eyes southward and eastward, beginning the campaign of conquering the empires which had ravaged Greece in earlier times. With 50,000 foot soldiers and horsemen he made his way South to conquer Egypt in 330 BCE, Palestine and Syria in 330 BCE, and then turned East to conquer Babylonia, Persia, moving as far East as the Hindu-Kush mountain range, then South through India, and back to Babylon, dying there on his way home in 323 BCE.
Many of his troops revered him as a God. He was repeatedly wounded but never seemed to succumb to any illness deriving from his injuries. He insisted on leading the troops into battle every time they were going to engage the enemy. All along the way Alexander showed constant and deep interest in the culture and religion of those peoples he was conquering. He showed deep respect, even reverence, for their Divinities and religious customs, and at times he sought to wear the garments appropriate to their respective deities.
After having conquered and rebuilt the palaces of what we now call Iran, Alexander met is wife-to-be, the fabulously beautiful Roxane. They were married in a multi-cultural setting, thereby uniting the local nations with the Greek Empire. Alexander appears to have believed that he would find a passageway back to his homeland, thus revealing that he thought that the world was round, so he pressed on Eastward. Eventually, however, he realized that there was no Eastern passageway back to Greece, and he began to make plans to retrace his steps back to his homeland.

Along the way one of Alexander’s best friends, Hephaistion, had died along

the way. This called for a large and extremely extravagant funeral proceeding. Incidentally, the temple erected in Hephaistion’s honor still stands in large area containing the reconstructed Stoa and other buildings just below the Parthenon. After taking care of these matters, Alexander and his men began the long trek homeward. Surprisingly, after all the horrendous battles Alexander had endured, it was some sort of poison, perhaps planted, that led to his death shortly after a large banquet. It was never determined whether Alexander had been the victim of a crime or simply the effect of something he had eaten.
He took the Greek language and culture halfway around the world and established several kingdoms along the way. Famous cities like Alexandria, are named after him, and yet his “empire” soon dissolved amidst the infighting of those who inherited his kingdom. Still, he remains “Alexander the Great”. He died in 323 BCE at the age of 32. He has always been a special favorite hero of mine.